


Familiar Now

by ChaoticBabe



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Angst, F/M, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kate Fuller/Seth Gecko's Mexican Honeymoon, Pining, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22396282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticBabe/pseuds/ChaoticBabe
Summary: It was no honeymoon, but it wasn't nothing.
Relationships: Kate Fuller/Seth Gecko
Comments: 13
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Mexican honeymoon

It’s an endless loop of driving, sand, and dead end towns. Time seems to have no meaning. Days just bleed into each other.

They're going nowhere, and Kate should have a problem with it. Possibly start feeling like she’d made a mistake by riding off with Seth by now, but then she'd be alone and what good was that. 

Kate's world is destroyed. Right now all she knows it she doesn't want to be alone.

So instead of complaining or taking off when Seth isn't looking, Kate reclines in the passenger seat watching the endless road pass by.

Sand soon turns into a dead end town.

The cars change out often after their first ride was stolen, Seth says it was for the best- too flashy for the places they were going, Kate doesn’t care as long as the ac works. Something Kate loudly informs Seth about. He just calls her a brat, but the cars all have a working AC. 

The drives tend to be long, but that are never quiet.

Seth likes to talk _a lot_ , but he rarely says much.

He tells stories of past jobs, questionable life lessons, and his opinions on everything.

It gets to the point that sound of his voice has become such a familiar constant in the car that it's slightly unnerving when silence creeps in.

Kate herself by comparison doesn't say much, not that she doesn't make comments back, just talking about the past seems somehow exhausting. The words never manage to come out. It's better to just listen. 

While she may be silent Kate she pays attention, makes a game of it. One just for her where she tries to find the important bits of what Seth says.

So she listens intently, stolen aviators covering her eyes, slumped against the car door with an air of vague disinterest so as not to give the game away. In this manner Kate learns to parse through his words to the few which have meaning.

Over time it becomes clear it's less about what he says, and more about what he leaves out.

"You should have seen it sweetheart, the look on their faces when we busted in-" It's always we, or us. The other name goes unspoken.

_Richie. He misses Richie._

It's not a surprise. The more stories he tells without saying his name, the more Kate lingers on the thought of her own brother. Is he okay? Is he all alone?

She misses Scott. 

"Used to leave at the crack of dawn before the old man woke up and then stay out well past dark, back before Uncle Eddie took us in. Climb the fence to the park just like the one from the last town, and-" 

_Didn't want to be at home._

Bethel feels like a faded memory. Home is a stolen car and the man who's driving it. She'll never tell him it though.

"Old man taught us how to shoot, drove us hard-" His hands tighten on the stirring wheel at the mention of his father, the one Richie apparently killed.

_Bad home life, probably abused. It has always been Him and Richie against the world._

Of course it was always those two.

There is never any hint of discussion of the twister, something that grates as time goes on.

Kate learns all about who Seth Gecko is in this way.

It's never really was a game at all.

It's in another town long past it's prime where Seth picks up a bad habit. 

Well it's where Kate is made aware of it at least. 

The first time Kate catches him with a needle her eyes go wide. So do his, right before they go hard and mean.

"Got something to say Princess."

Sometimes it amazes her how he can turn even endearments into weapons.

Never one to back down, too much pride, she sneers and lies "None at all. If you wanna kill yourself, be my guest."

She's picked up some bad habits of her own.

There's something inside of her that craves this- their fights, the stealing, the weight of the gun in her hand- it's something Seth has a way of bringing out of her. She isn’t sure if it has always been there silently dormant or if it showed up when he and his brother did.

_Maybe it's just away to remind herself she's still alive._

Kate isn’t sure if she wants to take a dull knife and cut it out or sit back and let it take root. Watch it grow.

For now she'll take anything that gives her a reason to keep moving. It's in this way she almost understands the drugs.

Watching him shoot up soon becomes the norm somehow. Sometimes she has to help him.

A side effect of the drugs is how loose they make Seth, in every way. He'll blabber on about nothing more than usual. He'll _touch_ more than usual.

Seth hums and the fingers on her lower back holding her steady while she sticks a needle into his neck sprawl wider, applying pressure - enough that Kate takes a step closer to him.

Did his touch always effect her this much?

His grip briefly tightens with the decrease in personal space, his thumb begins to casually caressing circles into her skin. 

Did she always like it this much?

She’s not blind. Kate has always been aware of how attractive Seth is. 

She’s only just now realizing how attracted to him she is. 

He looks up from where he's sitting to stare into her face, the hand at his side reaches up to cup the side of her face. Unconsciously her breath hitches, making no move to extract herself out of his embrace.

She's saved from herself as his head starts to lull back.

Eventually it always knocks him out cold for several hours, in which time the silence always gets to her. Endeavoring to fight it off she explores the towns they stop in, makes a goal to find out as much as she can about her brother and what he's become. 

By the time she gets back to the hotel room Seth is usually only just waking. None the wiser to her leaving.

Bleary eyed, high and pleased for the moment he smiles wide, ” _Katie_.”

He’s loaded, he isn’t actually glad to find her still here. Her heart is traitorous though and a smile finds it’s way to her lips. “ _Seth_.”

Kate thinks after everything he's done it might be the drugs she ends up hating him for. 

The next day they drive off and leave the latest town in the dust, Kate just wishes it was that easy to move past everything.

Kate is tired. _God,_ she is tired.

The drugs don't stop. This is ultimately the breaking point. 

Not her missing brother, not the criminal life style, not the sad hotel rooms, or the tension between them. 

It's the drugs that pushes things.

It's killing her as much as it is him. _He doesn't notice._

The thing is Kate doesn't want to leave him. _But she is done with this_.

Isn't sure what she'll do without the sound of his voice chasing away the silence. _At this rate he won't be around much longer anyways._

She decides to try once more, then-

They're driving again, past vast stretches of sand again, and stay in another dead end town again. Seth shoots up, just a little bit more than the last time.

Something inside breaks -


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seth's POV

They drive- 

nowhere is far enough away from that hell, so Seth keeps driving even as his eyes fight to stay open.

Kate’s in the passenger seat and has yet to say a word since they took off, barely acknowledging his constant stream of chatter about what they’ll do next.  
It’s probably for the best, he’s got no idea. Its's an attempt to fill the silence.  
  
If he stops talking, he'll start thinking, then the memories of the last twenty four hours will creep in. Anything's better than that.

(Still he wishes the kid would do more than stare out the window, it reminds him too much of Richie.)

He isn't sure if muteness is better or worse than crying. 

Seth's got no idea what he's supposed to do with the kid.

_But she’s not kid, not really. Not after last night._

She was barely one before, something that clearly peaked Richie's interest, but after last night.

For a moment a chainsaw and blood fill his vision.

No she’s not a kid anymore.

He starts talking again.

She might not be a kid, but she’s sure as fuck his responsibility.

That thought eases something in him, where it should spike his anxiety to an all time high. Seth’s always had someone to look out for, someone who needed him.

_Richie_

He can do this, he can take care of her. 

A brief glance to the side shows a deeply shocked girl. Unsurprising.

Yeah Kate needs someone to look out for her now, she’s got no one else - _don’t think too hard on your role in that_ \- Seth can take care of her.

Seth's grip on the wheel loosens, he has a goal now. Take care of Kate. And right now Kate needs sleep. They’re far enough away that it should be safe to find somewhere to rest.

He ends up carrying her from the car into their hotel room. He doesn't think she remembers. 

  
After the first night they don’t stay in any one town for long, at first it has more too do with Seth’s own paranoia. Then, well then it's because they run out of money. Which means back to business. It’s never good to stick around long after you’ve stuck a gun in someone’s face.

He tells Kate this after the first job. Along with many other rules to live by.

Usually she just nods, but he can tell she’s listening.

Smart-ass has thrown his own words in his face, more than once.

She starts asking to help after the first few times instead of staying in the car.

Seth gives in far too easily. 

Turns out she's pretty good at planning scores. She's good at picking up on details and the little things that Seth would have missed.

He can't help but think she'd gone to waste playing preachers daughter the rest of her life.

Not that he'll ever tell her that, in fact he's made it a point to give her space. It's for the best, for both of them. 

He still does most, if not all of the talking in car. But every once and a while he gets her to laugh about some antic he pulled in his youth. After the first time he makes a point to tell more stories from his childhood from then on.

Hides his proud grin every time he hears her laugh.

The sand- 

is everywhere. The car, the bed, he's even found some in his drug kit.

The drugs.

At first he tried to keep it from her. She didn't need to know, he didn't want her to know.

It's just to help him to sleep. Take the edge off. Keep the dreams away.

_The nightmares where Richie bites into his neck and doesn't let go._

But he's found it helps during the day too.

That started around the same time his eyes and hands started to linger too long on Kate. God he's so fucked up.

Is this how Richie felt? 

_Seth remembers clearly walking in on the two of them, lips locked hidden behind flimsy curtains. It runs through his head, followed by the question of who kissed who._

Eventually he slips up. 

_If you wanna kill yourself, be my guest._

That fucking hurt. Not that he didn't deserve it. No Seth is well aware he deserves far worse than a few catty comments.

She's sure to give one anytime she helps him shoot up.

Another thing she started helping him with that he gave into too easily. Turns out he needed her more than she needed him.

Way Seth sees it Kate's entitled to as many barbs as she wants.

In part he's glad she's lashing out, anything is better than the zombie state she was in when they started this little road trip. In hindsight he realizes he should have done more to draw her out, but at the time he really did believe leaving her to it was for the best.

Taking inventory in the latest warped bathroom mirror Seth notes he's looked better.

The beard's a little ruff but it does well enough to disguise his face. It's not enough to hide how strung out he's beginning to look.

Huffing out a deep breath through his nose, Seth shakes away the bright lights and dark spots clouding his vision leaving the small bathroom.

Kate's sitting cross-legged on her bed reading a paperback he flinched for her a while back, she's probably read it ten times over by now. He should get her a new one, he can already imagine the way her face'll light up. The smile that'll start small then take over her face just she's pleased he thought of her. 

A lousy paper back is enough to make her happy all day while putting up with his bullshit. She deserves better than this.

He doesn't understand why she's still with him.

_She's going to leave, just like his own brother did._

The thought sends a shiver down his back.

He could use a hit.

Grabbing his bag off the nightstand all too aware of Kate's eyes burning into him the whole time.

Before he can ask she's already there in front of him, needle in hand. When did that happen?

There's a pinch.

And then relief.

Already his body is easing towards oblivion.

Before he's completely gone there comes a hazy place, stuck between reality and a dream.

It's his favorite part of this.

Here he forgets himself, reaches out for Kate, her skin cool in comparison to the way his is on fire. Pulling her in close he means to kiss her. He means to never let her go. Maybe she wants him too, why else would she still be here.

All too soon her face fades.

Kate never mentions these movements, he half believes they never happen.

It's another dead end town-

and Kate's gone.

_He left her on the side of the rode with the score._

She's gone, and Seth is finally where he's supposed to be. All alone.

He shoots up again with shaking hands, maybe this time he'll be able to dream the pain away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm not overly thrilled with this chapter but it's done.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it. Tell me all about what you think, and any prompts if you have something in mind.


End file.
